The present invention relates generally to low cost buoyant flatware, such as spoons, forks and knives, that can be quickly and easily sorted without spending the time to manually sort the flatware by hand. Cafeterias in governmental institutions, mental hospitals, mental health schools, offices and the like typically provide flatware for use with the meals that are served. The flatware is typically reusable since it can be expensive to constantly provide disposable flatware. Prior to this invention, after the flatware is used, the flatware is then typically washed and then sorted into containers for re-use. The sorting of the flatware in governmental institutions now commonly includes the hand labor of separating the spoons, forks and knives into containers and also orienting the flatware in one uniform direction. In a cafeteria where numerous meals are served, the sorting of the flatware can be very time consuming, especially if hundreds or thousands of meals are served on a daily basis. Some cafeterias may have flatware sorting machines, however, these machines can be very costly and are not always very reliable.
Using the buoyant flatware of the present invention involves placing the flatware in a tank containing a liquid solution such as water or soapy water. The flatware will then separate in the liquid solution and can then be removed in a sorted fashion without having to separate the flatware by hand or to have an expensive machine to separate the flatware. The flatware of the present invention can improve or eliminate mechanical sorting and can greatly improve the time of manually sorting the flatware. The sorting of the flatware can take place before or after washing the flatware.
The flatware sorting techniques disclosed in the prior art do not offer the flexibility and inventive features of my floating and quick sorting flatware. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the floating flatware of the present invention differs from those previously proposed.